This was my first foray into historical romance and it was very pleasant. A nice little romance with mystery, adventure and plenty of sexy moments.

Book: Wild Wicked Scot By Julia London
Series: The Highland Grooms, Book one
Reviewed by: Barb Massabrook of Celtic Barb’s Tartan Book Review Blog, Reviewer for Tartan Book Reviews and Purple Tulip Book Reviews
Heat setting - mild
Overall Setting - 5/5 stars


Spoiled, wealthy and English, Margot Armstrong, always felt she didn't belong in Scotland married to a chieftain. As her father forced her into marrying the Scottish Chieftain, Arran McKenzie when Margot was only 18 years old. As Margot was English and not used to the Scottish Highlands.

Plus being so young she was home sick plus his clan did not make her feel welcome. Most likely her being English but Margot was a bit snobbish too. As she felt she was too good and above everything in the Scottish holdings. She had to admit her husband was rather attractive when he upkept his looks and bathed. Plus he was rather good sexually in the bedroom but it was not enough.

Margot missed home too much and it wasn't long that she ran away to her home and never looked back. Three years later her father returns her to her husband. Her father had no feelings for her marriage but wanted his daughter to spy on her husband and find out if he was Jacobite.

Arran McKenzie was hoping his wife had missed him and Scotland. He was hoping she wanted to heal their marriage and make it work. Then he finds out her father forces his daughter back to her husband. To Arran this was not what he was hoping for at all.

Then the funniest thing happens she develops feelings for her husband. Margot does not want to betray Arran finding he's a good man. Plus she is between a rock and a hard place as the Crown will accuse her father of being a traitor if he doesn't come up with Jacob ite evidence. Plus Margot believes both men are innocent and her husband is investigating why her father sent her back. Arran does not believe it is to heal their broken marriage.

If Arra digs and finds out the truth will he kick Margot out and find her devious and untrusting. Plus how will this couple ever mend their broken fences!

Another wonderful fast paced riveting adventure that readers will absolutely love. Readers won't be able to put it down and it's a book you won't forget.

I loved it from beginning to end I absolutely loved it and looking forward to rest of the series! It is totally brilliant!

I voluntarily reviewed this book which was given to me by the publisher through netgalley.com. All words and ideas and thoughts are my own.

This one was just OK for me. I can't say that I loved the characters all that much. It definitely dragged in places. While I liked the HEA, it really was a struggle to get to the end and I ended up skimming in parts.

Julia London has done it again!

She has captured the rugged Scottish Highlands pre-Jacobite era and created a story that will last for all time. The characters draw you in and will not let you go. I started reading this book and could not put it down. Excellent characters, wonderful story line, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

My review was published at All About Romance on 1/26/2017: http://allaboutromance.com/book-review/wild-wicked-scot-by-julia-london/

I was a little confused at the beginning of the story, but by a third of the way through, I was thoroughly invested and desperately wanted Margot and Arran to repair the past damage in their relationship and be in love!

I really enjoyed reading this book. The arranged marriage of Margot and Arran started out very rocky but years later, a matured Margot returns to Scotland with a purpose.....and it's not to save her marriage. But the chemistry between these two characters leads her to just that. I like how both Arran and Margot learned from one another and grew to be the people that we actually liked and rooted for at the end. You won't be disappointed.

Wild Wicked Scot is a story of political intrigue and second chances. It is the first story in a newseries and I found it to be very entertaining. Margot Armstrong, an Englishwoman, is 17 and a little boy crazy and living the life of luxury. Her father has arranged a marriage for her to a Scottish Highland laird, in order keep the fragile peace between England and Scotland. A marriage of convenience wasn’t what she had in mind and Margot found being married to a stranger and living in Scotland hard. They constantly fought and finally after 4 months she had enough and left him. Now it is 3 years later and she is forced to return by her father in order to find out if he is still loyal to the Queen or secretly rebelling as a Jacobite. Somehow she is going to have to walk a fine line in order to ferret out his secrets and keep him from finding out why she returned.

After meeting the author this year at a historical author’s event, I was intrigued with her new series and couldn’t wait to read it. It took me by surprise it wasn’t your typical story of second chances because I couldn’t see how Margot was going to come out of this a winner. Her behavior and immaturity had made her behave badly and she had too much going against her. It took a bit of time and perseverance in order to make progress with his clan and with Arran. It also wasn’t easy to like either Margot or Arran but over the course of the story they eventually won me over by the story’s end. Each had to grow up a bit and consider the other’s point of view and make a greater effort to get to know their spouse and work at their marriage.

I have enjoyed other Julia London stories and this one is no exception. The plot and character development kept me involved and made me want to finish reading to see how it was all going to play out. Scottish highlanders and the exploits are a favorite of mine to read so I am 100% invested in reading the others in the Highland Grooms series.

I love a good historical romance with a Scot for a hero! I really enjoyed Arran and Margot's story in WILD WICKED SCOT. Can't wait for the next HIGHLAND GROOMS novel by one of my favorite authors, Julia London.

Born into riches and groomed in English luxury, Margot Armstrong didn't belong in a Scottish chieftain's devil-may-care world. Three years ago she fled their marriage of convenience and hasn't looked back—except to relive the moments spent in wild, rugged Arran McKenzie's passionate embrace. But as their respective countries' fragile unity threatens to unravel, Margot must return to her husband to uncover his role in the treachery before her family can be accused of it.

Red-haired, green-eyed Margot was Arran's beautiful bride. Her loss has haunted him, but her return threatens everything he has gained. As the Highland mists carry whispers of an English plot to seize McKenzie territory, he must outmaneuver her in games of espionage…and seduction. But even as their secrets tangle together, there's nothing to prevent love from capturing them both and leading them straight into danger.



* * * * *



If you are looking to be swept away to the Scottish Highlands and the beginning of the issues facing the Jacobites and the Scots thought to be of that camp than look no further. WILD WICKED SCOT brings the readers into a Scottish clan and the lives of its laird and lady.



Arran has no interest in the Jacobite cause but being suspected of such might bring an end to all he has worked so hard for. And knowing that his English wife might be one of the people working against him is just another cross to bear.



Margot has returned to her husband to find proof that her family are not traitors but she instead finds that she just might have misjudged the man that she ran away from years ago. Now she is just looking for proof of what she isn't quite sure.


I really enjoyed WILD WICKED SCOT with its beautiful scenery and well developed characters who learn and change as the story goes on. There are times when I want to slap Arran along the back the head and others when I want to shake Margot until she opens her eyes to what's really around her.



I highly recommend this book to any of my readers who enjoy historical romance. It is well written and very enjoyable.



*** I received this book at no charge from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed within are my own.

This book is terrific. The love/hate relationship between the characters has a solid foundation and you end up rooting for the chacters throughout the whole book. Just terrific reading.

Wild Wicked Scot is a really good read packed with love, lust, treason, and danger, as well as betrayals which all blend together to make an awesome read!

This book starts out in England when Margot Armstrong a young 17 year old debutante is hosting a birthday party which is interrupted by the arrival of four Scottish men. Not a few minutes later her father calls her into the study to introduce her to Aaran MacKenzie, a bit rough looking man, and he stared at her like she was his!

The next morning her father announced she was to be married to Aaran, and no amount of crying would change her father's mind. So she was married and sent with her maid to Scotland. This marriage lasted 4 months and she fled back to England not able to abide living like a Scot. Her husband did not chase her so she thought he was glad to be rid of her.

Aaran Mackenzie was a simple man, and loved being Laird of his Clan. With the dowry he received for marrying Margot he got an Earlship and property in England, but he was an honest hard working man, and cared about his Clan over anything and Margot felt that included her. But Aaran was also a proud Scot and did not give chase and let his wife go though they were still married.

Three years have gone by and Margot is living her life and trying to enjoy it when her father calls her home again and demands she return to Scotland to see if her husband is no longer honoring england and intending to aid to the Jacobite Scots who want to overthrow England. She did not want to go but again she is sent and when she arrives she finds a husband who questions why after three years she has come back-unannounced at that?

You will have to red and find out what happens but I guarantee this book is really good, fast paced and filled with so many emotions and feelings you will want to finish it in one setting!

I gave this book 4 stars and can't wait to read more by Julia London!

What an enjoyable tale. Had me going from word one and wanting to know how Arran and his spoiled wife could resolve their problems. Well done!

Julia London is one of those author's that makes a reader stand up and take notice. Her storytelling skills are impeccable and her characters are often surprising, as well as, passionate. Her latest series, The Highland Grooms, begins with a story of political intrigue and a marriage of convenience. Wild Wicked Scot, is quite unpredictable for the genre. This is a hard fought HEA and readers will find themselves absorbed and unable to figure out just how things will shake out.

What I liked:

I read of a lot of Scottish romances. It's a given coming from a Scottish background that any book I read from the subgenre has to meet a few criterion for me to like it. Historical romances have to have some history. It's in the name... lol. Wild Wicked Scot is set in a particularly tumultuous time in Scottish history, at the beginnings of the Jacobite Rebellion. The tension is high between the English crown and the Scottish clans. London's portrayal of a romance set smack dab in the middle of it was both satisfying and highly emotional, but it's the political climate and the underlying sense of urgency that propels this book from good to great. London knows how to use the history to enhance the romance. It's an acquired skill.

Can't have a great romance without a sexy hero. It's part of the outline. Arran Mackenzie, fits that description to a tee. He's a laird, commanding and competent. He's a warrior, passionate and protective and he's wearing a kilt. That never hurts. I liked Arran a lot. Margot is his wife, but she isn't his partner in the beginning. It was a marriage of convenience. Her father wanted something and Arran wanted something, but Margot wasn't necessarily it. When she returns after three years he is clearly skeptical, but he doesn't let that stop him from being attracted to her. He is very open with his feelings for her and I liked that he didn't try to hide it even though he doesn't trust her. He is very much a man, but he is also a leader and that comes with responsibilities to his people. He shows caution and compassion with Margot and that was very attractive.

The plot centers around Margot's return to the highland's as a spy for her father. She is supposed to find out if Arran is in fact a supporter of the Jacobite Rebellion. In order to do that she not only has to win over a husband she deserted but also a clan who desperately needs something or someone to believe in. I loved the fact that London's plot is so unconventional. Most marriage's of convenience in historical romances follow a prescribed pattern. Most often the hero and the heroine fall in love and live happily ever after. Not so, in this one. It starts out bad and gets worse. The reader will have a hard time trying to figure out how in the world this one will work out. They know what kind of romance it is but then again maybe it's not. Are they going to stay together... yes, of course they are. But maybe they're not. Oh dear! London really keeps you on your toes with this one... loved that part.

London brings together two people from two totally different backgrounds. They have no basis to understand each other. Nothing but attraction to bond them. They have different expectations in life. Different ideas of romance and love. I liked the idea of the spoiled English bride and the stoic Scottish laird. It really worked. Margot was certainly a hand full. Arran has his work cut out of him. When they both finally get over their own expectations and start to see each other for the unique and interesting people they have become, it's on (like Donkey Kong!)

What I didn't like:

There were a lot of things I liked about this book, but there was one thing I didn't like. And it's a big one. I didn't like Margot. I didn't like the heroine. How can I possibly say this a great book, without liking the heroine? Even though, I found her a bit spoiled and pretentious in the beginning she did grow on me. I didn't find myself falling in love with her character by any means, but the idea behind her was compelling. She was the bad girl who won the day in a sense. She had her faults and don't we all, but it just goes to show you that there's someone out there for everyone.

Bottom Line:

This was a deeply romantic book. The characters were well drawn and interesting. It felt very unpredictable and hard to pin down and that's a good thing. I like books that don't follow the norms. I like saucy, savvy characters and even though I didn't like Margot she was both of those things. Arran was a very good hero, if a bit clueless about how to make his wife happy. Pick this one up you'll be glad you did. It's a really good romance balanced with political intrigue and a lot of sexy highlanders!

Wild Wicked Scot brings us a story of spoiled girl who can’t stand for herself and, to be truthful, doesn’t know what to do with her life. I mean, until she returns to her husband’s house, three years after she had left him.

Margot is that kind of character that is hard to like, at least for some of the book. There’s a small evolution, but still, it’s too bad that she doesn’t trust Arran – I understand why she wouldn’t do it at the beginning, but the second he gave a chance to tell him, she should have taken it. Nevertheless, she manages to slowly redeem herself little by little, and at the end of the book is much stronger than she was at the beginning.

Arran is amazing. He’s the perfect book boyfriend, from beginning to end. Everything he does is to please Margot and to help her to integrate her new home and he loves her deeply, trying his hard to please her. He feels so completely betrayed when she leaves him (and his male ego – maybe the only small thing against him – prevented him from following her). No wonder that, when she decides to pop up completely unannounced, he becomes suspicious of her.

The whole book is about building trust, not only between the characters, but also the reader: we want what’s best for Arran and, for a while, we’re not completely sure if Margot really deserves him. But, as she begins to show that she’s no longer the childish girl she was when she married, we start to understand her a bit better and we want to give her a chance.

The (small) mystery the book has ends up just being there to unite the lovers and it's a case of being “arrested for having a dog and not having a dog” (translation of a Portuguese expression which means you just couldn’t have it right, no matter what you would did).

At the end of the day, all is resolved, with trust being regained, and a love growing harder and stronger. It was a book that only took me four days to read and it kept me hooked on it. A well spent time, with lots of romance, fighting for honour and a true love that is always worth fighting for.

I've really enjoyed getting back into historicals and Wild Wicked Scot ticks many boxes. Loved,loved, loved the hero and thought he was well written, I liked how he was the chief and how hard he worked for his clan. His opposite of everything he can be wife returns and while I struggled with her at times I thought it added a uniqueness to the story and had me wondering how it would all turn out. Julia London was amazing with her writing, descriptions and the overall feel of the story. Very well enjoyed. Thank you!

The newest trilogy from Julia London begins with her story of Margot and Arran. Margot is the estranged husband of Laird Arran Mackenzie. Margot and Arran's courtship never really happened. It was a political alliance that her father told her she must uphold. Margot being young, just barely eighteen when they were married thought her world had ended when she was wed and taken from English society to the highlands. Spoiled and ungrateful she loathes the life she feels she has been sentenced to in Scotland. She feels that she is all alone, and the only time she feels at ease is when it is just her and Arran.

Arran does not know what to do with his young wife. She cries all the time, and when she is not crying she is arguing or demanding something he cannot give. But for all the aggravation she represents he finds himself falling for his unhappy bride. When she leaves him shortly after their marriage and returns home he is heartbroken. Now over 3 years later she has returned under the ruse of wanting to reconcile. But Arran doesn't trust her and refuses to let her hurt him again.

Margot has spent her life being a pawn for the men in her life. She has returned to her husband to save her family from ruin. While there is no way she thinks he is a traitor to the crown, she must find proof one way or the other. But she has a hard way to go, Arran has not forgotten that she left him. While trying to patch up the relationship and get closer to Arran, she finds herself falling for her husband. She is ashamed of her behavior when she first came to the highlands and tries desperately to prove that she has changed. When he husband is backed into a corner to prove his loyalty, she now finds herself desperate to save him even though his situation is due to her family.

Great start to this series. Love that we can see the growth for Margot throughout the book. I cannot wait to read the next in the series.

I am a huge fan of Julia London's books. I've been looking forward to reading her next historical. Wild Wicked Scot is the first in her latest series, The Highland Grooms.

London continues to deliver characters with depth and worlds that one can fall into. I loved that we see the growth and development of Margot and Arran's relationship. From two characters that couldn't possibly be a sensible match to a married couple I couldn't help pulling for, set in a world that I wanted to settle in for just a little bit longer, I was sorry to reach the end of Wild Wicked Scot.

I couldn't wait to escape to Scotland with London's latest, now I'm on pins waiting for the next adventure.

In the first of a new series Julia London introduces us to Margot Armstrong, a young English society girl still learning the ways of the world, and Arran McKenzie, a proud and wild Scotsman. Margot's father agrees to marry Margot to Arran for lands on both sides of the border and before Margot knows what's happening she's on her way to Scotland, a country she doesn't know, married to a man she barely knows. Unable to handle Arran's world on her own she leaves her husband and returns to her father. Three years later her father sends her back to discover if Arran is plotting with the Jacobites to overthrow the queen and put a Stewart king on the throne. With his wife's sudden return Highlanders begin to accuse Arran of plotting with the English against Scotland. The two may be virtual strangers (with LOTS of emotional baggage between them) but they are going to have to work together to escape a web of deceit and danger.

Scot begins by alternating between the present and the past, which is a little jarring until you realize what's happening. I don't usually like that, but here it created an interesting emotional effect as we jump between meeting the young, innocent Margot and the Arran who is so bitter about his marriage failing. For me it created the initial effect of not liking either character, but wanting to find out how they got to where they were. As the book progresses and you see things through both their eyes and come to understand them it becomes heartbreaking to see how these two, both inexperienced in the ways of marriage and compromise, were unable to make things work. You might not agree with either of their early choices, but you begin routing for them to figure out how to come together.

London's writing is detailed but fast-paced and all her characters have wonderful layers. I especially can't wait to see if Margot's brother Knox gets his own book- he doesn't get too much time here, but what you see of him (especially at the end) makes you want lots more! Our heroes experience everything from joy, despair, lust, hope, disillusionment, love, and everything in-between- and the reader is swept right along the emotional roller coaster with them. It's an emotional journey that proves that while compromise and communication may be the most important things in a relationship, sometimes they are also the most difficult.

Wild Wicked Scot is an emotional gripping adventure of love and loss, deceit and trust. An exciting start to Julia London's new Highland Grooms series.

Highland Grooms Book One

When Margot is forced into an arranged marriage with a wild Scotsman, she cannot reconcile herself with her current reality. Arran tries to give her what she wants, even when neither of them know what that is. Margot leaves Arran only to return three years after ripping his heart out. He knows that she must have an ulterior motive, but she is still just as tempting as she was before. When rumors drift to him about traitors to both England and Scotland, he is shocked to realize they are both about him. How could one man possibly deal with all of this?

If you're looking for a romantic story with a realistic look at the arranged marriage, this is definitely the book for you!